Letters to Lily
by colour me perfect
Summary: It all started because he loved her. Because really… what better reason was there to start? But on any account, they were letters - letters to Lily, and somehow, they were enough. [SHORT STORY]
1. Prologue

**LETTERS TO LILY - PROLOGUE**

* * *

It all started because he loved her. Because really… what better reason was there to start? He supposed he could have loved her from afar – away from the quill and parchment, away from the dusty chair and the wooden desk and away from the Owlery. But what would have been the fun in that?

James Potter had never been one to sit still. He hadn't sat still whilst getting his flu injection (resulting in receiving the needle in the upper leg region) and he hadn't sat still during his first lot of OWLs. So why would he simply sit there, with his hands under his legs and love Lily Evans, when he could be doing crazy things, like… oh, you know, writing her letters (and _not_ diary entries, as Sirius liked to jokingly call them) and leaving them hidden anonymously in the Owlery. Psh… what a crazy, wild thing to do.

Actually, when he sat down to think about what he was doing it _did _sound rather moronic and pathetic. But it wasn't like he was writing letters pronouncing his love to her or declaring her beauty to be similar to _that of a thousand stars_, as Peter had daringly suggested, and it wasn't as though he was pouring out feelings into every word. He simply wanted a way to talk to her _without_ being James Potter. Because… although he wasn't proud of it, Lily Evans seemed to think of him as… somewhat of a twat. Or maybe… less of a twat, and more of a… toad? Was that the word she had used? Anyway, although they were (kind of) friends and she was Head Girl and he was Head Boy, it wasn't as though he could walk up to her and ask her about the weather or about how her day was going or about how things were at home. Okay… maybe he could, but it was far more easy to be courageous when he was scribbling on a piece of parchment. Plus there was the fact that his mouth seemed to run away on him a lot, and while on parchment you could simply scribble it out or start on a blank piece, in real life, the closest you could get was banging your head against the nearest wall and apologising profusely.

But on any account, they were letters… letters to Lily, and somehow, they were enough.

* * *

_**A/N**_

_**This is a short story (five or so chapters) that I've been working on for a little while, and it'll be incredibly fluffy and easy-going compared to some of my other stuff. Actually, most of my stuff is fluffy. Welp. Enjoy and I'd love to hear what you think.**_


	2. Chapter One

_Dear Lily,_

_My name is… you know what, scrap that. You need a fake name even less than I do, and I'll be honest and say that the best one I could come up with was endearingly amusing at best, and more along the lines of cringe-worthy. You're probably wondering why I'm writing this, and why I've hidden it in the corner of your owl's cage, where it more than likely came into contact with various owl faeces and a lot of dirt. Well… I don't really have a reason. Well, I do, but I promised myself that I wouldn't turn this letter into one of **those** things, which is always the way the things I write to you seem to turn out. _

_So I will simply ask how you are going, and how your day is, and to not consider me a weird, crazed stalker but more of an interested acquaintance. And however hard it is to consider a scrawled piece of parchment an acquaintance, it would do far too much to my self confidence to be considered otherwise. _

_If you reply, please place your response in the left hand corner of your owl cage. _

_Thinking of you,_

_Keeping you in mind,_

_Contemplating you,_

_Your Friendly Acquaintance. _

* * *

She didn't know what to think when she pulled it out of the distant, grubby corner of her owl's cage at six-fifteen on Friday afternoon. A frown had passed across her lips, and she had gently unfolded it with her fingers, slightly hesitant about reading what it said. After all, there had been rumours of disloyalty at Hogwarts in the past few months, and just recently, posters had been placed up in each of the four Common Rooms warning about possible threats within the castle grounds. It terrified her to know that _He_ was rising to power, and that _He_ was recruiting people that could possibly be her friends. And so when she picked up the piece of paper her heart began to race and her fingers began to tremble, and she found herself unsure of whether to read what it said.

Of course, Lily had never been the most patient of people, and eventually her curiosity got the best of her. Reading it, however, had stunned her. Of all the things that she'd expected to find, a friendly note hadn't been one of them. Though she was initially somewhat suspicious, she found herself sitting on the edge of one of the crates of owl feed and examining the letter in bewilderment.

"Merlin," she murmured softly to herself, turning the paper over to see if any clue was on the back. "What on earth would possess someone to-"

* * *

James Potter could not stop shaking.

"Prongs?" Remus poked at his friend with the edge of his quill. "James, you're as white as a ghost. Why are you shaking so much?"

A snort. "He finally placed one of his diary entries in Lily's owl cage," Sirius said, voice leaking with dry amusement.

A pause. "Oh." It was silent for a few moments. "Well… never mind, you've done it now. You can't get it back."

James let out a groan and fell to the ground, tugging at the ends of his hair with his fingers. Concerned, Peter knelt down beside him and timidly waved a hand in his face. Sirius let out an amused laugh. "Prongs, she won't know it was from you. What did you write about, anyway?"

James spread his fingers and looked at his friend through the gaps in between. "Just small talk."

It was silent for a few moments. "See, not a very James thing to do." The others hummed in agreement. "Normally you'd make an arse out of yourself or ask her out." James pulled his hands away from his face to glare. "Well I'm being positive," Sirius said defensively. "She won't know that it's from you."

The boy on the floor let out a heavy sigh and pushed himself up, brushing his messy hair away from his face and pushing his glasses so that they rested properly against his eyes again. Taking a seat on the couch beside Remus, he glanced up at his friends, looking more nervous than the calm, almost haughty Gryffindor had ever appeared to be. "Do you reckon she'll respond?"

The room settled into tense silence. "Well you won't get humiliated, which is a plus."

"Step up from last time," Peter added in thoughtfully.

* * *

_Dear… you,_

_You're right… I've been sitting here for almost an hour now contemplating what on earth would bring someone to write an anonymous letter and leave it in my owl cage. It makes me wonder why you couldn't just ask me those things in person, which leads me to think that you are somewhat shy and scared of talking to me. I assure you that I'm not very terrifying, but whatever the case… I will humour you for a while. Unless this is some sort of joke, of in which case I'd advise you to stop sending me letters and save yourself the dignity of being humiliated in return._

_I am quite alright, thank you. It feels rather silly writing this in a letter which will just sit in my owl's cage (which I clean weekly, thank you very much), and I really don't know why I'm even sitting here, writing this out. But my day has been decent. I suppose I should ask how yours is going? I dare say it will make you look seem like less of a stalker and more of an acquaintance._

_Sincerely, _

_Lily Evans. _

_P.S. Out of interest, what were some of the fake names you were planning on using?_

* * *

James Potter was trying not to shake too much as he walked casually towards the Owlery – a little _too_ casually, actually, considering how much his arms were swinging and the obnoxious whistle that was coming from his mouth. A painting of an elderly woman standing in front of her garden glared at him, shouting out obscenities that had his eyes widening and his whistling – thankfully, come to a halt.

When he made it up to the Owlery, he tried not to look at her cage first, which was hanging from a hook towards the back of the room, just a few inches from his own. Glancing around, he swiftly walked over to check on his own bad, sticking his finger inside the cage and wiggling it a bit.

Percy, his brown owl, took a snap at his finger, breaking the skin slightly and causing James to let out a soft yelp. "What the hell was that for?" he snapped at the owl, retracting his bleeding finger and holding it against his chest. The owl seemed to glare at him a little, nudging his empty food bowl with his beak. James sighed, narrowing his eyes. "Well if you weren't such a greedy little bugger maybe I'd gi-"

"Talking to animals are we, James?" A flush crept up the back of the young wizard's neck, his bleeding finger forgotten. "I hope dearly that this is a long awaited sign of magical flair and not the far likelier sign of you going mad."

James turned around, the corners of his lips twitching when he saw her standing there. "Evans," he greeted, smiling slightly and taking in how lovely she looked standing there with her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail and her green eyes wide and sparkling. "Fancy seeing you here."

The witch rolled her eyes impassively, her lips curling up into a playful grin. "Because the Owlery's such a strange place to be on a Saturday, yes."

James grinned at her cheekily. "So what _are_ you doing here?" he asked casually, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning nonchalantly (and suavely) against his owl cage. Percy snapped his beak angrily at the wizard in disdain, before stalking to the back corner of his cage and settling his beady eyes into a glare.

A red hue crept across Lily's cheeks, turning her the delightful colour of a raw beetroot. Digging her hands into the pockets of her robes, she turned away, looking positively charming in a way that had James' heart fluttering significantly. "I've been waiting for a letter from my mother, actually. Something's… er, going on at home."

James blinked. "You realise they deliver those to the breakfast table on most mornings?" he offered, his voice leaking with confusion.

The young witch stiffened slightly. "Well, I best be off," she said finally, sending a fleeting glance over to her owl cage. "Nice seeing you, Potter. I'll er… catch you in the common room later."

With that said she left the room in a fluster, her eyes trained wordlessly on the ground.

James straightened himself, blinking in confusion at the now empty room. "What on eart-"

* * *

"You're such an _idiot,_ Lily."

The redheaded witch stormed furiously towards the Common Room, her red cheeks covered by wisps of her hair and her arms crossed over her chest. "Waiting for a letter from our mother… you've been at this school for seven years and you play dumb like that. You're so _stupid."_

Reaching the entrance to the Common Room, she muttered the password hastily, ignoring the Fat Lady's strange look as she clambered inside. "That is it, you will not even _wait_ for a repl-"

* * *

_Dear Lily,_

_You're right; I'm very shy. In fact, I'm so shy and scared of people that I spend all my time writing pathetic diary entries to a girl that I'm completely bonkers for, despite the fact that it makes me seem like an absolute twat and I could be spending my time wi_

"What are you three doing?"

_SIRIUS IS THE BEEESST LOVE HIM INSTEAD and Peter too! Guys, this is ridiculous and YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS MOONY BECAUSE NO ONE WANTS TO SHAG Y_

The parchment was ripped from beneath them, and the three boys let out a snicker. "You have got to be kidding me," James said, eyeing the scribbled ink in disgust. "And for the last time, they are _not_ diary entries." Sirius let out a snort. "They're not! They're letters, and for your information, she actually _replied."_ Even Remus looked at him in bewilderment. "And none of you are going to get to read it," he said finally, dangling the letter in front of their shocked faces for a second before storming away.

It was silent for a few seconds. And then:

"Prongs!"

"James, c'mon!"

"_I told them to stop!"_


End file.
